"The HSE's approach will do little or nothing to reduce either the volumes or the numbers of cancer-causing substances used in Britain's workplaces. This guarantees a new working generation will face a preventable cancer risk. Asbestos still kills thousands every year and the epidemic has yet to peak. We are already seeing evidence of cancers in microelectronic workers, an industry just one working generation old, and it is anybody's guess how work in the nanotech industry will impact on health."

Only a small proportion of industrial chemicals have been tested thoroughly for chronic health effects, he adds.